A 4-year-old stray cat that was rescued from the streets of Rome has inherited a $13 million fortune from its owner, the wealthy widow of an Italian property tycoon.

Maria Assunta left the fortune to her beloved kitty Tommaso when she died two weeks ago at the age of 94. The feline's newfound riches include cash, as well as properties in Rome, Milan and land in Calabria.

As her health began to fail two years ago, Assunta, who had no children, began to seek out a way to see that Tommaso was properly cared for after she died. In November 2009, she bequeathed her entire estate to the alley cat that she'd rescued.

Her choice but not only crazy in my view but selfish, out of all the people in this world and all the good things that money could accomplish she leaves it to a cat who has no long term loyalty whatsoever.

Fully 100% nuts. How in the name of Friskies is the cat supposed to put all this to proper use? Does he have the financial education and experience to properly invest and/or manage expenditures? Did she leave him a budget to follow? Does he have property management experience to supervise villas in different cities? Does the cat know the building codes for these areas?

I'll probably do the same to make sure my dogs are taken care of and then after they are gone...and properly cared for other family members and charities could get something...that is if there is anything left. My dogs are my kids and we spoil them here on in our home so of course we'd want our kids taken care of and live a good life even though we couldn't be there to take care of them. Of course we'd have someone over seeing the money so the animals weren't just given away or find a death early.

her money her choice. Apparently she felt closer to her cat than to anyone else, and while cats can be great company, it's unfortunate that she didn't have any close humans. She's not the first wealthy person to leave an estate to a pet, and she won't be the last. After her pet joins her, I hope her money goes to help other homeless animals.

It was her choice ..
She wanted to make sure that her beloved family member (the Cat) was provided for through its lifetime ..
Given that she's got no children at all ..
This was something she wanted to do .. (the cat definitely was obviously loved by this lady)
So let's respect her choice ..

(I'm sure there's other terms of that will too .. just saying it is a private matter .. between the executor of the will .. the beneficiaries .. and the timing of the gifts).